It’s a bit on the long side, but McNish is one of the few drivers that I’d be willing to listen to for that length of time. Very eloquent and insightful commentary about Le Mans, F1 and racing in general.

@jagolevert@ajokay Maybe it depends on how long the F1 refugee has been away from F1. McNish is one of the friendliest and chattiest (if not THE friendliest) drivers and Heidfeld was OK when I spoke to him at Sebring. However, Lucas de Grassi put on his sunglasses and spent his time doodling on a picture of Tom Kristensen and ignored the fans who were in line – only signed stuff when explicitly asked to.

I mentioned this to a lady who oversees the SRT ALMS program and she concurred based on her experience with the drivers. Her reasoning for this is that in F1, fan interaction is treated as an annoying contractual obligation by FOM and the teams, hence the drivers in turn develop a negative attitude towards the fans. On the other hand, sportscar/endurance racing is a sport in which both the teams and the governing bodies encourage fan access/interaction, so F1 drivers who move to sportscar racing need time to adjust to the different dynamics.

Okay, I’ve finally caved in and bought tickets for this year’s US GP. Will be at Turn 9 with a set of binoculars to see down the back straight. Was initially tempted by Turn 15 but decided that the premium was a little high. Maybe next year.

@ajokay I’m not sure if Silverstone will be anything like Sebring, but I’m guessing that most WEC/ALMS races have some form of autograph sessions set up for you to meet the drivers. One thing I’ve found is that the ex-F1 refugees tend to be a bit less approachable vs the lifetime sports car guys. Being fan-friendly isn’t something that’s emphasized in F1 so you can see how their mindsets towards the fans are mostly set in the F1 way.

I’d say no. Like some of the others have already mentioned, there’s lots to see and do in the daytime if you’ve not previously been to Singapore. Sure, there are places that are open late but I feel that you’ll miss out on a lot if you don’t get a chance to visit places like Chinatown and the Zoo if you’ve flown all the way down for the race.

Personally, I’d recommend a combination approach – switch to local time but stay out late-ish (2-3am should be good) and then get back in time for a solid sleep till noon the next day or so. That way you’ll have half a day to explore the city and still be able to keep tabs on F1 activities and other non-related nightlife. It’s the best of both worlds.

@bluelions Thanks for the info. Have been tempted by Turn 9 as it seems that with a good pair of binoculars and a high enough seat, you can see the Turn 12 braking zone. Would probably go for Turn 12 itself if they had offered a cheaper tier for the lower seats like they did last year.

Either way, I’m expecting more grandstand seats to trickle out later based on last year’s experience so I’ll likely hold off on my purchase for now. Given that this is the second year of the race, it’s lost the inaugural luster and I’m expecting ticket demand to be lower this time around.

Just got back from Sebring last night. It was my first ALMS race and my word, can F1 learn a lot from the ALMS about making the races more fan-friendly and accessible.

Mind you, I didn’t have any special credentials – just a regular Fri/Sat ticket like the majority of the race fans out there. Nonetheless, it was just an open atmosphere there, from the paddock that was open to everyone (giving you the unique opportunity to get run over by an Audi R18 getting towed) to the drivers and team members who were more than happy to answer questions, sign autographs and take pictures. None of that usual F1 arrogance and “leave me alone” attitude to be found; the teams were all super patient and accommodating to the fans.

Having only been to F1 races before this, I found the level of access to be truly unprecedented and a breath of fresh air. It really makes you feel engaged with – even appreciated by – the sport. It’s a pity the exclusive nature of F1 and Bernie’s show will mean that we’ll never see similar fan access in Formula 1.

But enough of my rambling. Here’s a neat shot I got trackside of McNish’s R18 whooshing its way to a second-place finish: http://i.imgur.com/DXb6L2V.jpg